Sunday, November 8, 2015 sm

Sunday, November 8, 2015 am. Sunrise: 6:51. Hunting opens: 6:22 am. Temperature: 40 degrees. Wind: N-NW 5-10 mph. Mostly sunny. I decided to go to Dan's gun stand out on 1st point. Taylor went out to the double ladder on second by the upside down sign. I had both decoys set up and was ready to go by 6:05 am. Taylor had action all morning with multiple does and dawns nearby. I had nothing happening until I was about to pack it up, head in and go back to Cannon Falls. At 10:40 am, I had a small 5 pointer come through from the west going east about 75 yards down the hill. I grunted to him and he came up on a string. It was awesome. Got some great video of him being confused by the decoys. After about 15 minutes he got frustrated and left to the NE. Totals: Bob - 1 deer, 1 buck. Taylor- a lot of does.

Saturday, November 7, 2015 pm

Saturday, November 7, 2015 pm. Sunset: 4:03 pm. Hunting closes: 4:33 pm. Temperature: 48 degrees. Mostly sunny. Wind: N-NE 5-10 mph. Taylor and I decided to give Romance a try. I went to Sherpa and he went to Everest. We were all set up by 2:00 pm. The seat at Sherpa had gotten chewed up by mice so I tried to rig up a seat when I got there. While I was doing that a small 5 pointer came off the hill to the NW. He saw the decoys, but was confused by me. He ended up trotting off to the west. I looked down the hill right afterwards and saw a tail  take off to the SW. Taylor had a nice buck come up from Octopussy, but he stayed out of range. He was mad that he didn't sit down there as he thinks that he had walked close to that stand. Totals: Bob - 2 deer,1 small buck. Taylor: 1 deer,1 buck.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Saturday, November 7, 2015 am. Sunrise 6:53 am. Hunting opens: 6:23 am. Temperature: 36 degrees. Mostly sunny. Wind: N-NE 10-15 mph. I de used to go to the double ladder off 1st point. Taylor went to the double ladder between 2nd and 3rd point. I was all set up and ready to go by 6:00 am. Finally, at 10:30 as I was getting ready to pack up and head back to MN, I had a small 5 pointer come through about 75 yards to the north of me going from West to east. I grunted to him and he stopped when he saw the decoys. He then started up the hill towards me. He spent 10+ minutes trying to figure out the decoys. It was awesome. I got some great video. Taylor had a lot of action with 8-12 does throughout the morning. He stayed until 1:30 and then got down to move down to the Twin Towers for the evening hunt. Totals: Bob - 1 deer, 1 small buck. Taylor- 10-12 deer, all does and fawns.

Friday, November 6, 2015 pm

Friday, November 6, 2015 pm.  Sunset: 4:49 pm. Hunting closes: 5:19 pm. Temperature: 46 degrees. Mostly sunny. Winds: N-NW 5-10 mph. Taylor and I decided to head up to Romance and give Copper Creek a rest. We were up there by 2:15 pm and in the stands by 2:35 pm. I went up to Sherpa and Taylor went to Everest. He originally was planning on going to Octopussy, but decided to change his mind at the last minute. Sherpa's seat had been eaten up by mice, so I tried to rig up a seat with my bag. While I was do that, a small mutant spike had walked down the hill from the NW of me. He saw the decoys, but als saw me moving. He ended up trotting off to the west. Just as that happened, I saw a tail take off down the hill to the SW. Taylor had good action seeing a small spike that came in from the NE and a big shooter buck that came up the hill from Octopussy. I guess he should have gone there. He ended up walking up the hill about 75 yards to the west of him. He lost sight of him over the top of the hill. Totals: Bob - 2 deer, 1 small buck and 1 ?  Taylor: 2 deer, 2 bucks. 1 shooter.

Thursday, November, 5, 2015 pm

Thursday, November, 5, 2015 pm Sunset: 4:46 pm Hunting closes: 5:16 pm Temperature: 62 degrees. Mostly sunny. Wind: S 10-12 mph. We had a busy afternoon hanging two new double metal ladder stands. The first out at the end of 2nd point and a second about 60 yards off the hill to the west of the big field on the north side. It is just above a small cedar tree. We will call this stand the Cedar double. Because of all the messing around, we kind of got out late and both decided to hunt the corn field since it had been picked earlier today. I went to the twin towers and Taylor went to black diamond. We both had steady action with us both seeing about 10-12 deer. Mostly does, but a small 6 pointer too. Totals: Bob: 11 deer. 10 does and a small buck. Taylor: same.

Thursday, November 5, 2015 am

Thursday, November, 5, 2015 am. Sunrise: 6:50 am. Hunting opens: 6:20 am. Temperature: 58 degrees. Mostly sunny. Wind: S 10-12 mph. We are down at Copper Creek. I decided to go to the Oak tree stand to the west of fort field. Taylor went to the metal ladder stand off the west of 2nd point. Taylor had a do rand fawn come through coming from west to east about 30 yards to the north of him. I saw nothing. I had to work so I only say until 9:45. Totals: Bob - 0 deer. Taylor: 2 deer, 1 doe and 1 fawn.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015 pm

Wednesday, November 4, 2015 pm. Sunset: 4:54 pm. Hunting Closes: 5:24 pm.  Temperature: 69 degrees.  Mostly Sunny; Wind: S-SE 5-10.  It did change from NW around 5:00 pm.  This evening I decided to give the portable hang up stand on the water hole behind the barn.  I was in and ready to go by 2:30 pm.  I brought both decoys with me and had them set up to the south of me.  At 4:55 pm., a doe and her fawn came up the main trail to the SE of me.  They got to about 85 yards and saw the decoys.  The wind must have shifted and the mature doe got a wiff of me and took off to the SW.  That was it.  Totals: Bob - 2 deer, 2 does.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Wednesday, November 4, 2015 am. Sunrise: 6:52 am. Hunting opens: 6:22 am. Temperature: 54 degrees. Wind: S-SW 5-10 mph. Mostly sunny. This morning I decided to head down to the Sugar Shack food plot. I was in by 6:10 am. It didn't take long to have some action. At 6:30 am, a small 5 point buck (he looked like a fallow deer) came down the new road to the north of me. He walked over and worked a scrape between the SS food plot and the VAT. After a few doe bleats, he walked down the trail, fed some in the food plot and walked down the mowed path at 10 yards. He then ended up walking off to the east. At about 6:45, I had a group of about 30 turkeys come through 85 yards to the south of me.  I sat until 9:20 am, because I wanted to get down.  I am going to Wisconsin for the pm hunt.  When I got to the bottom of the ladder, I heard something to the south of me.  It was a nice shooter buck (at least a 10 pointer) took off up the hill to the field edge and he ran to the east,  Damn.  Too bad.  Totals: Bob - 1 deer, 1 buck.

Sunday, November 1, 2015 pm

Sunday, November 1, 2015 pm. Sunset: 5:05 pm. Hunting closes: 5:35 pm. Temperature: 54 degrees. Partly cloudy. Wind: S-SE 5-10 mph. I decided to head down to the creek stand. Steve drove down from Long Lake, MN and went to the Sugar Shack. We were both in and ready to go by 2:30 pm. I didn't see anything. At 5:115 pm, Steve had 2 does come from the south and walk through the woods heading east. They both ended up in the stump food plot, as I kicked them up when I was leaving. Totals: Bob - 0 deer. Steve - 2 deer, 2 does.

Friday , October 30,2015 am. Sunrise: 7:45 am. Hunting opens: 7:15 am. Temperature: 40 degrees. Mostly cloudy.  Wind: S-SW 5-10 mph. I had some kid responsibility this morning, but Heidi agreed to taking Charley to daycare, so I could go hunt. I didn't get out until 7:25 am. I decided to give the Sugar Shack food plot a try. I was ready to go with both decoys by 7:30 am.  I sat until 10:30 am, before I had to go in for work. Nothing to report. Totals: Bob - 0 deer.

Thursday, October 29, 2015 am

Thursday, October 29, 2015 am. Temperature: 45 degrees. Mostly cloudy. Light rain. Wind: NW 20-15 . Heidi was out of town, so I had to take Charley to day care this morning. I had a few hours, do I decided to take advantage of it. At 9:00 am, I snuck down to the VAT and set up both decoys. I did kick up a big deer by the sugar shack stand on my way in. After getting settled, I decided to do dome rattling. It didn't take long. At 9:30am, I looked over to the west and there was a small 6 pointer working a scrape about 45 yards to the west of me. I grunted to him a few times, but he walked off to the south. I don't think he really saw the decoys. I did get some quick video of him.  I ended up sitting until 12:00 and then I had to get down and do some work. Totals: 1 deer. 1 small buck.

Sunday, October 25, 2015 am

Sunday, October 25, 2015 am. Sunrise: 7:32 am. Humting opens: 7:02 am. Temperature: 38 degrees.  Partly cloudy. Super foggy. Wind: N- NW 3-5 mph. I decided to go to the the twin towers. I had the decoys and was all set up by 6:40 am. I ended up staying in the stand until 9:45. Nothing happening this morning. Totals: 0 deer.

Saturday, October 24, 2015 pm

Saturday, October 24, 2015 pm. Sunset: 6:06 pm. Hunting closes: 6:36 pm. Temperature: 53 degrees. Mostly sunny. Wind: NW 2-5 mph. I got out this afternoon at 2:30 pm. I went back up to Dan's gun stand. I was all set and ready to go at 2:45 pm. I had the decoys with me as well. At 3:30 pm, I had a small 6-7 point buck come up the hill from the north. He came past me to the NE. He walked pat me about 40 yards away. He ended up going up over the hill to the SE. That was it. Totals: Bob: 1 deer, 1 small buck.

Saturday, October 24, 2015 am.

Saturday, October 24, 2015 am Sunrise: 7:30 am. Hunting opens: 7:30 am. Temperature: 58 degrees. Wind: N-NW 10-15 mph.   Mostly cloudy. This morning , I decided to head out to the double ladder stand 50 yards down the hill off of the west of 3rd point. I had both decoys and was all set, by 6:40 am.  I sat until 10:45 am. Nothing to report. Totals: Bob - 0 deer.

Friday, October 23, 2015.

October 23, 2015 pm Sunset 6:10 pm Hunting closes: 6:40 pm Temperature: 63 degrees. Wind: N-NE 10-15 mph.   Mostly cloudy and raining. I has to work today so I didn't get out until 3:20 pm.  I decided to give the oak tree above fort field a shot. Earlier in the day, I adjusted the stand so that it was facing east.  I was in position with both decoys by 3:30 pm. At 6:05 pm, I had 2 big does come from the NW. About 5 minutes later another for came down as well. She split off and went to the north.  Thebother 2 stayed about 50 yards to the north of me. The eventually worked their way down the hill and to the east of me. When they did that the spotted the decoys. They both ended up about 15-20 yards away. The decoys worked awesome. They did get down wind of me and spooked to the north. At dark (6:40), another doe came down from the NE. She stayed up the hill from me about 40 yards out staring at the decoys. When I got up and fathered my gear to get down, she trotted off to the NW. Totals: 4 deer. 4 does.

Friday, October 23, 2015 am

Friday, October 23, 2015 am. Sunrise: 7:28 am. Hunting opens: 6:58 am. Temperature: 58 degrees. Wind: S-SE 10-15 mph.   Mostly cloudy. I am down at Copper Creek. I drove down last night with Charley. I decided to give Dan's fun stand on first point a try. I was in position with both decoys by 6:40 am. Nothing to report. Totals: 0 deer.

October 14, 2015 Adam Connects

Wednesday, October 14, 2015.  Adam was out by himself this evening.  He got down here early and went to the Sugar Shack.  He was ready to go by 2:00 pm.  He had a nice evening sit, and then it finally happened. Two does came into the plot from the E-NE.  He waited until the biggest doe presented him a nice broadside shot.  At 6:43 pm, he pulled back and let an arrow fly.  It connected and she ran off to the E-SE towards Pisa. She didn't go far, as Adam was able to recover her in about 75 yards just below the Pisa stand.  Congratulations on harvesting a mature doe.  She is a great trophy. 

Saturday, October 17, 2015 pm

Saturday, October 17, 2015 pm. Sunset: 6:24 pm Hunting closes: 6:54 pm Temperature: 51 degrees. Wind: W-NW 5-10 mph. Mostly sunny. Tonight I took my decoys and headed down to Spaghetti Junction. I was all set up and ready to go before 4:00 pm. At 6:20 pm, I had two big doe about 65 yards away from me in Arlie's food plot. They fed in the food plot and then headed off to the north. That was it. Totals: 2 deer, 2 does.

Saturday, October 17, 2015 am

Saturday, October 17, 2015 am. Sunrise: 7:29 am. Hunting opens: 6:59 am. Temperature: 27 degrees. Wind: W-NW 3-5 mph. Mostly sunny. It is awesome to get out again. This morning, I decided to give the VAT a try. I brought the Montana colapsable buck and doe decoy with me this morning and put them out in front of me to the west. Dwayne came down and he went to the ladder stand.  All I saw this morning was about 25 turkeys that had roosted up to the SE of me and a beautiful bald eagle. Dwayne saw a fawn that he thinks was the same fawn of the doe Heidi shot on opening day. Totals: Bob - 0 deer. Dwayne - 1 deer, 1 fawn.

Sunday, October 11, 2015 am

Sunday, October 11, 2015 am. Sunrise: 7:21 am. Hunting opens: 6:51 am. Mostly sunny. Temperature: 60 degrees. Wind: S-SW 10-15 mph. It feels great to get out again. It has been way to long. This is the least amount that I have hunted since college. This morning, I decided to go to Right Field. Dwayne came down this morning and he went to the Ladder Stand. We were both in and ready by 6:35 am.  Nothing to report. Totals: Bob - 0 deer. Dwayne - 0 deer. He did see about 12 turkeys.

Monday, September 21, 2015 pm

Monday, September 21, 2015 pm. Sunset: 7:14 pm. Hunting closes: 7:44 pm. Temperature: 78 degrees. Wind: S-SW 15-20 mph. Mostly sunny. Now that my Hunger Games star and wife's MN hunting season is over, it is my turn to hunt. Heidi offered to pick up Charley from day care, so I could hunt tonight. I jumped at the opportunity. With the south wind, I decided to give the Apple Tree a shot. I grabbed the chip from the AT camera and settled in my stand by 4:55 pm. At 7:30 pm, as I was getting ready to pack it in, there was a small doe under the apple tree 50 yards to the north. That was it.  Totals:  1 deer, 1 doe.

Saturday, September 19, 2015 pm Minnesota opener

I drove through the night back from CO, so I missed opening morning. After being gone, it was Heidi's turn to hunt. She decided to head out at 5:00 for the Ladder Stand. It didn't take long. At 5:15, she had 3 does and fawn behind her to the SW. They ended up walking directly in front of the stand to the NE and Heidi decided to try and end her season early. At 5:20, the big doe stopped 15 yards away and Heidi whacked her. She took off to the north and then headed off to the west. She got down about 20 minutes later, marked the blood trail and snuck back to the house. I was home watching our daughter Charley, so she took over on parent duty, and I went out to grab the camera chip to see if the Cuddeback captured the hit. Fortunately it did. See attached. The hit looked good, so I grabbed my head lamp and a lantern and got on the blood trail. I had steady blood all the way to the NW corner of our property and then I finally found her arrow. It looked like it had been in there long enough to do some damage. Dwayne joined me at dark and we followed her through about 50 yards of the beans and then she crawled under Arlie's fence to the north. We had trouble finding blood in the tall grass and with very little light. I decided to walk around a huge thicket. While I was about 20 yards from Dwayne, she got up reluctantly and struggled to run off to the west. I went in and found her bed (lots of blood), marked it with TP and we decided to back out of there. I came back the next morning, and got right on her blood trail. She ended up going about 50 more yards and died. Heidi's arrow had gotten through the chest cavity and nicked the heart. Congratulations on finishing your season so early on an awesome mature doe. I tagged the animal, cleaned her and dragged her back onto our property. Dwayne and Adam dragged her back to the shack for me after their morning hunt. Thanks boys. Totals: 4 deer. 3 does and 1 dawn. Doe dead!!

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Tuesday, September, 15, 2015 pm. John Score connects on a beautiful cow at 20 yards at 1:20 pm near a wallow. He hit her through the heart. She walked 20 yards and fell over dead. Awesome.

Monday, September 14th, 2015

Monday, September 14, 2015. Camp photos and video

Sunday, September 13, 2015 Elk hunt

Sunday, September 13, 2015 am. Sunrise: 6:55 am. Hunting opens: 6:25 am. Temperature: 38 degrees. Mostly sunny. Wind: SE 5-10 mph. We all went out as a group in the am. John split up and went up towards Pilot Knob. Greg and Josh teamed up and Scott and I were working together. Our plan was to head down to the chute and see if we could get in front of some elk as they worked their way back towards their beds. It didn't take long. we saw about 6-8 cows in the field on our way out, but we couldn't get Josh close enough for a shot. We then hurried over to set up in the chute. At 6:55 am, I could hear Craig cow calling and then I heard a bow shot. Josh ended up taking 3 separate shots at the same cow at 78 yards, but he kept missing high. The cow just kept coming closer and when she was about 25 yards away, she started to present a shot opportunity. I didn't feel comfortable, because she was between me and where Josh had been shooting. Come to find out later, Josh had only brought 3 arrows with him, so he was out of "ammo."  Just then, Scott took a shot at the cow with his muzzleloader. She took off down the hill and stopped at about 55 yards. I could tell she was hit, but there was nothing that I could do. At 7:10 am, I heard another buggle up the hill to the NE. I looked and here came a nice 5 x 4 bull. He stopped at 55 yards but was facing me. He stopped to smell where the cow was and then proceeded to walk down the hill towards where she had laid down. Craig was continuing to do some incredible mewing. He stopped behind an aspen tree at 45 yards and I drew my bow. He was walking at about 40 yards, and I whacked him. I felt good withe the shot and he took off back up the hill where he had come from. Craig came over to me, to find out what had happened. As I was explaining what happened, his cow got up. He took another shot at her through the brush. We all met up and decided to go and try and find Craig's bull. It didn't take long and we could smell a dead animal. I started walking into the wind, and I found his bull about 50 yards away. We decided that we were going to skin and haul the bull out in game bags. While Craig and Scott were working on that, we decided to look for Scott's cow. We followed blood for about 200 yards, but lost her. I think he hit her low in the brisket. After, we carried out Scott's bull, John and I decided to go and look for mine. We had a pretty consistent blood trail and found two huge spots of foamy red lung blood. When we got up to the plateau, I looked into a small thicket and saw my bull down. I was pumped. He had gone about 300 yards. My arrow had gone through a lung, deflected back and through the liver, back through the stomach and out the groin. Those 100 grain slick tricks worked their magic. John and I cleaned my bull and went back to where we had left Craig's bull. We met the boys, and got into Scott's Suzuki Samurai. Fortunately, we were able to get his truck to within 30 yards of my bull. We hooked up the winch and pulled him out whole. What an amazing vehicle. Totals: 9 elk. 8 cows and calves and 1 bull dead!!

Saturday, September 13, 2015 pm Colorado Elk hunt

Saturday, September 13, 2015 pm. Sunset: 7:12 pm. Hunting closes: 7:42 pm. Mostly sunny. Temperature 72 degrees. Wind: west 5-10 mph. I flew from a meeting in Jacksonville, FL yesterday to Denver and got in late on Friday night. I took the 11:00 am flight to Steamboat Springs and I got in around 12:35 pm. Scott Schuette picked me up and we headed north about 17 miles to a 2000 acre private ranch that we leased for the week. I didn't see anything that night, but I did hear some bug buggeling in the distance. Craig (one of the guys in our party), did shoot a beautiful 6 x 6 at 58 yards. We were able to recover him the next morning. Totals: 0 elk

Food plot by RF growing.

It has been a week and we are starting to see some growth. I am pretty excited. 

August 23, 2015

Some decent bucks.  No beasts, but the one buck is a 10 pointer with 6 on his right side and 4 on the left.  Kind of a "crown" with 3 points at the end of his main beam.  Almost all of the photos were taken by the ladder stand.  Enjoy.

New food plot by Right Field

All,

Here are the finished photos from RF. Pretty pumped. Adam and I got this planted on Sunday, August 16, 2015. Should be sweet. It is a fall blend from Lee and Tiffany's the "Crush."  I love the fact that it rained Sunday through Wednesday. It should help get the seed bed established. 

Buck Slayer out!

New food plot by right field

The new food plot is coming along. It has been sprayed and turned over once. I hope to have it planted by the weekend. 

New stands at 009

Thanks to Dwayne and Adam, we will have 2 new ladder stands to hunt this fall. The first is down by the new food plot by Arlie's. The second is on the east side of the border patrol food plot. Nice work fellas.